Disney CEO Bob Iger Adopts Plan to Sell Stock Options Worth More Than $40 Million

Disney CEO Bob Iger adopted a trading plan to exercise options granted 10 years ago, currently worth more than $40 million.

According to Disney’s 10-K filing Thursday with the SEC, on Aug. 14, Iger adopted a trading plan that provides for the potential exercise of 372,412 vested stock options granted to him on Dec. 18, 2014, which will expire Dec. 18, 2024. The trading plan also allows for the sale of up to 372,412 shares of Disney’s common stock, “excluding any shares used to effect a cashless exercise or withheld to satisfy tax withholding obligations in connection with the exercise or net settlement of the option awards,” per the filing. Iger’s trading plan is scheduled to terminate on Dec. 17, 2024, subject to early termination.

Related Stories

VIP+

Generative AI in TV: VIP+ at Mipcom Cannes Recap

'Pedro Páramo' Review: Rodrigo Prieto Respectfully Adapts One of Mexico's Most Famous Novels in Surreal Debut

Disney said Iger adopted the trading plan to satisfy the “affirmative defense” of the SEC’s Rule 10b5-1(c).

That rule in part provides an affirmative defense to insider trading liability under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 “in circumstances where, subject to certain conditions, the trade was pursuant to a binding contract, an instruction to another person to execute the trade for the instructing person’s account, or a written plan adopted when the trader was not aware of material nonpublic information,” according to the SEC.

The stock options under the trading plan represent only a portion of Iger’s Disney stock holdings. In 2023, the CEO’s pay package included $865,385 in base salary, plus 16.1 million in stock awards, $10 million in stock-option awards, $2.14 million cash bonus and $2.48 million in other compensation, according to the company’s proxy statement filed in January.